1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to receptacles and, more particularly, to an improved brewing cup featuring a bag string-retaining notch.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Natural tea bags and bags used for brewing herb teas and the like are usually connected by strings to terminal pull tabs. When tea is to be brewed, the bag is placed in a cup, with the tab hanging out of the cup. Unfortunately, when the brewing liquid is poured into the cup and/or when the liquid is agitated to facilitate brewing, the length of string and the tab frequently are inadvertently pulled down into the cup and settle at the bottom thereof. Such an accident can also later occur when sugar and/or cream is added to the cup and the cup contents are stirred. The soggy string and tab then must be fished out of the cup liquid in order to remove the brewing bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,879,613 addresses this problem by providing a special tab designed to snap onto a tea cup handle. However, handleless tea cups provide no means of retaining the tab. Moreover, standard tea bags have no such specially configured tabs. U.S. Pat. No. 1,665,080 discloses a tea bag with a stiff stirring rod connected thereto, again a construction unavailable with commercial tea bags.
Accordingly, there is a need for a simple and efficient means of retaining the brew bag tab dry and outside the cup until the bag is to be removed from the cup. Such means should not require the use of specially constructed tea bags which are not currently available.
Tea cups and the like are most frequently reusable and, after washing, they can be inverted and allowed to drain dry. However, during such a procedure, waste liquid inside of the cup has no escape exit, so that the interior of the cup usually is still wet when the outer surface thereof has already dried. It therefore would be desirable to be able to provide an improved cup construction capable of faster drying when inverted after washing.